Chapter XI: The Pack Closes in

The isolated howls of the distant wolves soon swelled into a chorus. The beasts were assembling for the kill.

The noise came nearer, growing more vibrant and eager as it approached the men the wolves had marked for their prey.

But the anticipated victims had other ideas. During the time of waiting they had carefully examined their weapons and made sure that they had an abundant supply of cartridges on hand.

They sat there, intent and determined, fully aware of the danger that was coming on apace and yet with their hearts aflame with high courage.

They had no definite plan of campaign. They could not have. They would have to meet every emergency as it arose.

Then the howls ceased abruptly. In their stead could be heard the rustling made by bodies thrusting themselves through the brushwood, the scufflings of padded feet in the snow. The enemy was massing for the attack.

A long-drawn savage howl just beneath the boarded-up window brought those within the cabin to their feet. At the same moment a heavy body flung itself at the cabin door.

The boards of the door bent inward under the shock, but the heavy table shoved against it prevented them from breaking.

"That was the first gun on their side," remarked Slim Tyler. "Well, here's the first gun on ours."

He fired through the door at a height of about a foot above the floor.

But the yelp that would have told that the brute was struck did not come. The shot had not found a target. Nor had it seemed to intimidate the aviators' assailants, for a moment later not one, but three of the beasts, as though by a preconcerted signal, hurled themselves against the door with a force that made the cabin tremble.

This time one of the planks was splintered, and a wolf thrust his nose in the gap tearing with his claws to enlarge the opening.

Jerry's gun and Dick's spoke at the same instant, and this time a howl of pain told that one or both of the shots had struck. The wolf fell back and a hideous hubbub ensued.

"My wolf," cried Dick, with a grin. "I saw him first."

"You may claim him," replied Jerry. "The main thing is that he's put out of commission."

"He may be only wounded," surmised Slim.

"Then he's as good as dead," declared Dick. "Wolves don't take their crippled companions to a hospital. Listen!"

There was a frightful snarling as the wolves tore their unfortunate companion to pieces.

"That gives us at least a breathing spell," murmured Jerry.

"Not for long," warned Slim. "There'll be nothing of that wolf left in ten minutes but the bones, and the taste of blood will make the pack ravenous for more."

Slim Tyler's prediction proved correct, for the onslaught was soon renewed. This time the boarded window was the target for attack.

Time after time the brutes dashed their heavy bodies against it, and as often as they did so the besieged fired their rifles. But they had to do this by guesswork, and several rounds were fired without any evidence of damage.

"We're wasting ammunition going it blind this way," cried Slim in disgust. "We've got to do now what we ought to have done before and cut loopholes in the sides of the walls. Then we'll have a fair target when we shoot. I'll stand guard while you fellows--Ah, you will, will you?"

The exclamation was caused by the sight of a wolf which threw itself with such force against the hole in the door where his companion had met its fate that not only his head, but his shoulders and front paws protruded into the room.

Almost as he spoke Slim Tyler fired, and the bullet penetrated the animal's brain.

A howl came from the slavering jaws and the head slumped forward.

"That makes two less to worry about!" exclaimed Slim.

"Good work!" commended Jerry. "Don't do that, Dick," he cried, as Mylert made a motion to kick the dead body through the opening. "Let it stay there to plug up the hole. It'll be all the harder for the next one to force its way in."

"The fellows outside will drag the body out, anyway," replied Dick.

"Perhaps they won't know he's dead," conjectured Jerry.

"Trust them," said Dick. "They know a death howl when they hear it. Look, they're at it now!"

There was a fierce tugging at the animal's body, and in a trice it was drawn from the opening and the cannibal feast was renewed.

The pulling and tearing had still more enlarged the opening, and the young aviators viewed it with dismay.

"That last one got halfway through," observed Slim. "The next one may make the whole distance. If he does, he'll be followed by others. A few of them rampaging around inside would give us a tough job."

"And we haven't a thing to bar the hole with!" exclaimed Jerry, as his eyes ranged swiftly around the room.

"I have it!" cried Slim, as he rushed to the fireplace and pulled out a blazing brand. "They're as afraid as death of fire. Let's see how this works."

He hurled the burning torch through the opening.

There was a chorus of frightened snarls as the beasts scurried from the vicinity of the door, abandoning their bloody feast with reluctance, but abandoning it nevertheless.

"Got 'em all right," chuckled Slim. "They don't like it for a cent. We'll give them some more of the same kind. We'll keep the home fires burning, and not one of them will cross the blaze to get at the hole."

They hurriedly threw out some more of the burning logs until there was quite a bonfire in front of the door.

"Lucky we have plenty of wood in the lean-to," exulted Dick, as he hurried to get a fresh supply with which to replenish the fire. "We can keep this up all night, if we have to."

"It will serve a double purpose," put in Jerry. "It will light up the place outside so that we can see what we're aiming at."

"Yes, if they'll only stay in front," replied Dick dubiously. "But they'll soon sense that there's nothing doing in that quarter, and they'll try us on the other three sides."

"All the more reason why we should hurry up with those loopholes," suggested Slim. "Let's hustle now, fellows, so that we can see what's doing on every side of the cabin."

They laid aside their guns for the moment and dug away with their knives with feverish energy until they had made apertures large enough to thrust rifle barrels through and turn them in any desired direction.

During all the time they were working, there had come no sound from without. The lonely forest seemed wholly untenanted.

"Think they've had enough of our game and drawn off?" asked Jerry, the wish father to the hope.

"Not by a jugful!" affirmed Dick. "A couple of dead ones make no difference to them. Judging from the snarling, there must have been twenty at the least. They won't give up as easily as that. Just now they're planning what to do next."

If this were so, there must have been a confusion of counsels, for the silence continued for a long time.

The besieged scanned the space without from every side, but no slinking figures stood out against the background of the snow, no green eyes gleamed from the shadows of the forest.

The tense waiting wore on the besieged ones' nerves.

"Hanged if I don't believe that Jerry was right after all!" conceded Dick Mylert, wiping his brow with his handkerchief, for the fierce fire they were obliged to keep up made the cabin abominably warm. "Looks as if the brutes--Look out, fellows! Look out!" he shouted, as he leaped for his gun.

He aimed it at an open place in the roof and fired.

In Mylert's excitement the shot went wild, and the next instant a great gray body came hurtling through the air and struck the floor with a thud.

Slim Tyler and Jerry Marbury had grabbed their guns at their companion's shout but had had no time to aim.

Like lightning, the wolf sprang at Jerry's throat!